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Loaf pans...questions

December 6, 2018 - 5:51pm

Patti Y

Loaf pans...questions

I am new to bread making. I usually just make yeast rolls. I am growing my collection of bread books and equipment, and I found some old loaf pans that I had kept. I think they might have belonged to a relative, but I am not sure. I know they are old. I have had them packed away for at least 40 years. They are a shiny metal that might be aluminum. I also have 4 mini muffin tins made of the same material. I have used the aluminum mini muffin tins to make Lemon-Apricot cupcakes, and they never stick. I have used my non-stick mini muffin pans with the same recipe, and they always stick to the pan. Cleaning the non stick pan is a pain.

So, my questions are...

What do most people prefer for loaf pans? I know many of you are not making basic bread loaves anymore, but I thought I would get your input.

Old pans vs new pans...what do you prefer and why?

Keep the old loaf pans or get new ones? Are the new metal pans better?

One of the questions Floyd has provided as part of every Fresh Loaf member's profile is, under My Gear: "Loaf pans". If you do a search up to the right here for a kind of bread made in loaf pans (e.g., <Whole Wheat Sandwich>), and then click on some poster's names in the hits you get, at least some of the time they will have entered their preferred loaf pans in that field of their profile. Note that you have to be logged in for a member's name to clickable.

I rarely bake in loaf pans but use Calphalon non-stick and USA Pans when I do.

Those shiny old pans are likely zinc or maybe tin plated. I inherited one 8½ × 4½ in. loaf pan and a couple of gelatin molds.

Personally, I like the aluminum coated mild steel pans. I like the way they season and darken over time, sort of like cast iron. My impression is that the darkish pans brown the crust more evenly and the more they're used, the better the bread releases when you turn it out. Don't bother washing them, just wipe them out.

....my mother's old 1lb loaf tins - they must be well over 50 years old and are now completely blackened having have developed their own non-stick surface. Don't buy new ones - they won't be any better

Tom, Gary and Aroma, thanks for your help. I finally remembered that the pans were my grandmother-in-law's, but she baked bread in her bake house oven in the back yard. I guess these must have used for cake or banana bread instead of bread. It is worth a try to use them for bread. If they don't work well, I can buy the ones Gary suggested or look on the Gear/Loaf pans posts. Thanks, again.

I made my first graham flour bread...Memo's Bread by Zola Blue. I used my old pans and they turned out really light on the sides. They had a very light texture. Very airy...is that the crumb? Top of the loaves were crisp and crunchy while the interior was soft.

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